Lost Hikers Thinking Too Much
By Rocky Thompson on December 23rd, 2009
A story of a lost hiker is nothing new in the NPS Morning Report. What’s interesting about this one in Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area is that the lost hikers were in cell phone contact with rangers, and they didn’t bother following the searchers’ instructions.
Personnel searched for approximately six hours without luck. The rain did not turn to snow, and plans were made to continue the search at first light the next day. Additional personnel were called in and the search resumed early on Saturday morning. Further phone contact helped them to finally locate the trio in mid-afternoon. Search efforts were hampered by the men continuing to move after being told to stay in one position so that searchers could find them. Tommy Barnes was IC. There were no injuries to either hikers or searchers.
Unless they moved only a little bit to find better shelter from the rain and snow, these guys were thinking too much about how to make it easier for their searchers. Once you get on the phone with the rangers and they tell you they’re on the way and you need to stay put, don’t decide to go looking for mushrooms.
For God’s sake, just put a freaking sign ” No dumb ass hikers/climbers” or ” Enter at your own risk. We don’t give a shit about you and not gonna rescue your ass ” in every NP and climbing/area.
Gotta agree with Paul, well more or less. With the possibility of us outdoorsy folks having to potentially pay for our rescue being in the news a bit, and on this blog I started thinking about how awesome it is that aside from a small fee to gain access to the park so many people will work so hard to find your dumb ass because you didn’t bother to bring a map, basically for free… and to thank them you ignore their orders…. nice.